Mass Flow transducers are used in a variety of industries to quantify the flow rate of a substance. For example, the medical industry uses mass flow transducers to monitor and control a person's breathing. One common technique for sensing mass flow is to utilize multiple resistive temperature detectors on each side of a heating element parallel to the direction of flow. As a mass such as a fluid or gas flows across the resistors, the resistors that are located upstream from the heating element are cooled, and the resistors located downstream from the heating element are heated. When a voltage is applied across these resistors, an electrical signal is generated. The signal generated using multiple resistive temperature detectors are highly non-linear and not ideal for use in most “high accuracy” control systems.
Two types of methods are currently utilized to approximate a non-linear mass flow signal into a linear output: piece-wise linear functions or polynomial approximation. In piece-wise linear functions, the linear signal is approximated by many linear equations distributed throughout the range of the signal. In polynomial approximation, a polynomial expression is used to describe the signal.
A need exists for improved accuracy in the generation of linear signal with less coefficients and mathematical steps as a part of mass flow transducer. It is believed that a solution to this problem involves the implementation of an improved method and system for linearizing the raw output of a mass flow transducer as described in greater detail herein.